I am lost for words about yesterday’s sudden death of Etienne Hugel, 57. He was the face of Alsace for so many people, including myself, and he was a dynamo promoting the great wines of his region and fine wine in general. If he was not welcoming the wine trade or wine lovers in his family’s cellars in the town of Riquewihr, he was going somewhere in the world to a tasting or dinner featuring the wines of Famille Hugel.
I first met Etienne in the states in the early 1980s after working a few years for The Wine Spectator in California. We were the same age and enjoyed hanging out and talking about wine. I always appreciated his enthusiasm for wine and life and his dry, slightly sarcastic sense of humor. He made me laugh a lot, which is no small thing in the wine trade.
Etienne was particularly proud and exuberant about talking about the fine dry wines of Alsace (preferably Hugel!) – whether pinot blanc or riesling or even pinot noir. His tiny production gewurzraminer vendages tardives and gewurztraminer sélection de grains nobles were a source of great pride.
“Production of these rarities are so small that they don’t really count,” he would say with a grin. But he never failed to have one or two to taste together at a tasting or dinner. “No need to score those,” he would say.
I always loved the way he was so competitive in a friendly way, particularly with the great wine producing family of Trimbach from the village next door. He was so single minded and never missed an opportunity to mention his family’s wines. I remember last year when I was preparing the Lalique and James Suckling Great Wines of Alsace Guide 2015/2016, he sent me a number of emails reminding me of how I should be “careful to not underscore” their new single vineyard Famille Hugel Riesling Alsace Shoelhammer 2007. Makes me smile still thinking about it.
Etienne brought smiles to so many people who loved wine in the world. He will be greatly missed. He is survived by his wife Kaoru, his son Jean-Frédéric, who also works at Hugel, and his daughter Charlotte.
